Giuseppe Valaperta (d. 1817?), sculptor, was born in Milan and worked in Italy, in Spain, and in France at Napoleon’s imperial residence of Malmaison. Having been convinced to visit the United States by William Lee, the American consul at Bordeaux, he arrived in Washington in the autumn of 1815 armed with Lee’s letters of introduction. By early in February 1816 Valaperta had agreed to help refurbish the United States Capitol. He designed and executed the American eagle on the entablature frieze in the Hall of the House of Representatives. Valaperta also created wax bas-relief portraits of James Madison, James Monroe, TJ, and other notables. His likeness of TJ is reproduced elsewhere in this volume. A contemporary newspaper reported, however, that Valaperta’s “health and mind were much impaired” by his labors; that “After a short illness, he became completely deranged”; and that “He often repeated, that he had worked enough, and that it was time for him to rest.” On 4 Mar. 1817 Valaperta disappeared from his lodgings. He was presumed to have committed suicide, although his body was never found (Alexander J. Wall, “Joseph Valaperta, Sculptor,” New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin 11 [1927]: 53–6; Groce and Wallace, Dictionary of Artists description begins George C. Groce and David H. Wallace, The New-York Historical Society’s Dictionary of Artists in America 1564–1860, 1957 description ends , 643; Latrobe, Papers description begins John C. Van Horne and others, eds., The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1984–88, 3 vols. description ends , 3:719, 726–7; Bush, Life Portraits description begins Alfred L. Bush, The Life Portraits of Thomas Jefferson, rev. ed., 1987 description ends , 68–70; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 4 Nov. 1815, 29 Nov. 1816, 10 Mar., 28 Apr. 1817).